Changes to Parent and Grandparent Program application intake process in 2017

True to its commitment of an improved and faster process of family reunification, the Government of Canada has announced today, December 14, 2016, the changes to the Parent and Grandparent Program application process.

Credit to the owner of this photo

Honourable John McCallum, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, announced the changes to how sponsorship applications will be submitted under the program:

“We’re listening to what past applicants had to say and making the process fairer for people who want to sponsor their parents or grandparents. We’re ensuring everyone can access the application process by giving them the same chance to have their name chosen.”

In order to manage intake and interest in the program, and keep the number of applications from growing, the new application process was simplified to a 3-step process:

Applicants will complete an online form.Between January 3 and February 2, 2017, Canadian citizens and permanent residents who want to apply as sponsors must first complete an online form on the IRCC website to let the Department know they are interested in applying to sponsor their parents or grandparent.

10,000 Applicants will be chosen will be invited to apply.At the end of the 30 days, IRCC will remove the duplicates, randomly choose 10 000 people and ask them to complete the full application. IRCC will let everyone who completed an online form know whether they were chosen or not. Only those who were randomly chosen will be invited to apply to the Parent and Grandparent Program.

Invited applicants will submit their application. Those who were invited to apply will have 90 days to submit their complete application to IRCC. Applicants will then be processed in the order their application was received. The 2017 application kit and guide will be available on IRCC’s website on January 9, 2017.
The online form will be available for 30 days, starting on the noon Eastern Standard Time (EST) on January 3, 2017 to noon EST on February 2, 2017.

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Momsiecle is short for Momsie’s Circle. As our family start a new chapter of our lives in Winnipeg in 2009, I also started to write about my challenges and triumphs in Canada as an immigrant, until I decided to dedicate this blog site to creating posts about coming and living in Canada (and everything else).
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